A piece from myself to @ShabanaMahmood@ukhomeoffice
In a series of proposed immigration policy changes announced by yourself yesterday and focusing on the legal migrants bits especially the retrospective application.
You claimed to be concerned that if legal migrants who arrived between 2022 and 2024(1.6M estimates) settles using the current 5years route to settlement path, it will create more demand for social housing and put more on welfare costs. But in the same consultation paper you were looking to apply NRPF(No recourse to public funds) to ILR holders, will that not solve the concern raised by yourself? Or should I say there are more concerns about how the Home Office would be able to generate income given that up to ยฃ40,000 is about to be handed out to illegal migrants family? Because extending base period from 5years to 10years or 15years sounds more like income generation instead of tackling problems/issues raised. As this same set of legal migrants will be eligible for the said pressures/concerns in the next 10,15years. Or are you looking to extend it to 30years then?
The home office in FY 22/23, 23/24 and 24/25(estimated) made ยฃ3.9Billion, ยฃ4.3Billion, and ยฃ4.7Billion respectively from visa and IHS fees paid by migrants. Isnโt it the case that the home office in FY 25/26 hasnโt been able to generate such amount? and looking at radical reforms made in the last 2years, they donโt look like generating such billions? And would rather make legal migrants here pay such fees again?
I think what is happening here is simple, make as much money from legal migrants (economic migrants as you call them) as possible and blame them for all woes within the system.
Lastly, you said this is for โordinary working class peopleโ forgetting that legal migrants are also โordinary working class peopleโ and pay their fair and greater share into the system.
All legal migrants(economic migrants) want is settlement, let us build our lives here and not be held in limbo for 15years - that destroys the basis of trying to build cohesion and that isnโt fairness!!!
@UKLabour@BBCNews